volume i, issue i Fall 2005

A QUARTERLY REVIEW OF Schenectady’s History Skenectada

inside this issue: GotWe History? Do!

1661: Arent Van Curler applies for permission to purchase the necessary land from the Indians, and also appeals for a patent from the government, making Schenectady the westernmost settlement of New Netherland; 1690: On the night of Feb. 8, the settlement of Schenectady was attacked by a force of French and Indians from the north.The people were slaughtered and the village burned. Sixty residents were killed and 27 made prisoners; 1792: Western Inland Lock Navigation Company formed by General Philip Schuyler, first inland canal system; 1795: founded based on Dutch principles of Tolerance, first nondenominational college in America; 1798: Schenectady becomes a chartered city; 1809: Schenectady County formed March 7; 1810: John Howard Payne, author of “Home, Sweet Home,”graduates from Union College; 1825: opens in Schenectady; 1826: Mohawk & Hudson Railroad chartered, first passenger train in America; 1831: Aug. 3, “DeWitt Clinton,” the first steam locomotive, makes the initial trip over the first passenger line in the U.S. from Crane Street Hill (then known as Prospect Hill), Schenectady, to Lydius Street, Albany.The distance of twelve and a half miles was made in one hour and 45 minutes; 1851: John Ellis and Norris Brothers begin the manufacture of locomotives in Schenectady (Schenectady Locomotive Works); 1862: Clute Brothers builds parts for USS . Dr. Robert M. Fuller hailed by the medical fraternity of the world as the inventor of tablet forms of medicine, earning for himself the title of “Father of Tablet Triturates”; 1866: George Westinghouse conceived the idea of stopping trains by means of an air brake, while riding from Schenectady to Troy, and invents the air brake; 1886: Edison comes to Schenectady; 1892: Company formed through a merger with the Edison Electric Light Company and Thomson-Houston Company with Schenectady being made headquarters; 1895: Charles Steinmetz patents a “system of distribution by alternating current” (A/C power) on January 29. 1900: First industrial laboratory for scientific research built in the U.S., in Charles Steinmetz’s backyard; 1903: Largest steam turbine built, a 5000 KW vertical shaft unit installed in Chicago by GE; 1906: Christmas Eve, the world’s first radio broadcast by GE engineer Ernst Alexanderson; 1909: Alco’s Harry Grant won The Vanderbilt Cup. GE’s William Coolidge develops the ductile tungsten filament, the material still used today for light bulbs; 1901: American Locomotive Company formed; 1902: A. F. Knight of Schenectady invented the “Schenectady” golf putter; 1910: First electric range manufactured, the GE Hotpoint electric. ALCO’s 50,000th steam locomotive, a Pacific Type, was shipped. Citizen, George Lunn’s socialist newspaper, begins. ALCO’s Harry Grant wins the Vanderbilt Cup again; 1912: Socialist George Lunn becomes mayor, then lieutenant governor in 1923 as a Democrat. An ALCO truck with five crew made the first transcontinental truck delivery carrying three tons of Parrot Brand Olive Silk Soap.The cross-country trip (4,145 miles) was made in 91 days, arriving at City Hall in San Francisco on Sept. 20, 1912.The start of this trip coincided with a big truck parade and display sponsored by the Inquirer. There were 509 commercial cars of 71 separate makes, ranging in size from mammoth trucks with 13,000-pound capacity down to light delivery of 500-pound capacity. Average speed on the trip was a fraction over 10 mph with 412 hours actually on the road and 776 hours total; 1913: GE develops the hot-cathode high-vacuum X-ray tube; 1915: GE’s Irving Langmuir stabilizes tungsten filament in 1915 by twisting it and using gas in the bulbs (N, then Ar). GE invents Calrod, an electrically insulating heat conductor making electric stoves safer; 1918: GE’s Albert Hull invents magnetron, a key element in radar systems. GE’s Sanford Moss and his supercharger leads to GE’s development of first jet engine; 1920: Dr. Elizabeth Gillette serves as first upstate women elected to NYS Legislature, during the “Red Scare.”First college radio station was WRUC, Union College, which went on the air Oct. 14. Irving Langmuir develops thoriated tungsten filament for radio and power tubes. Steinmetz creates the Steinmetz Electric Car Company. GE develops portable X-ray machine; 1922: Feb. 4, 1922, WGY Schenectady is licensed (goes on air Feb. 20), second commercial NY station. WGY was 2XI in 1912, 12th oldest in US (NYC WJX first in NYS in 1921). Oct. 7, 1922, first chain broadcast accomplished when WJZ and WGY transmitted a World Series game from the field. Ordinary telegraph lines from Newark and Schenectady connected with the polo grounds, where a single microphone connected to these lines completed the requirements. Graham McNamee was the announcer. Kolin Hager, program director and chief announcer at General Electric’s station WGY, considered the Father of Radio Drama. In Sept. 1922, Hager gives a 40-minute weekly time slot on WGY to “The Masque,” a troupe of community-theatre actors from nearby Troy, NY, headed by one Edward H. Smith. As the “WGY Players,” Smith’s company offers condensations of recent stage plays — 43 of them in the first season — and gains national attention for its efforts: the first regular dramatic series ever broadcast on American radio. Among the members of the group are a former stage technician named Frank Oliver: radio’s first true sound effects man. The WGY Players are a fixture at the station for more than a Schenectady is a decade, and in 1928 perform another historic first: the first play ever to be televised; 1923: Charles Steinmetz dies, with nearly 200 patents; 1925: ALCO, along with G.E., builds its first Nobel City diesel electric locomotive. WGY airs Dr. C.W.Woodall’s weekly show on first aid. GE introduces Monitor-top refrigerator, the first hermetically sealed domestic refrigerator, in Schenectady; 1927: Alexanderson staged the first home reception of television at his own home in Schenectady using high-frequency neon lamps and a perforated scanning disc; 1928: Jan. 13, Ernst Alexanderson demonstrates the GE system and announces the beginning of television broadcasting. The pictures were received on sets with 1.5 square inch screens in the homes of Alexanderson (1132 Adams Rd) and two board members in Schenectady. (Some consider this the first home reception of television in the U.S.) The picture, with 48 lines at 16 frames An Ironclad Victory per second, was transmitted over 2XAF on 37.8 meters and the sound was transmitted over WGY.WRGB is born, May 11, 1928. GE begins first regular schedule of TV programming and For Schenectady the world’s first news broadcast. Programs are transmitted Tuesday, Thursday, and Friday afternoons from 1:30 to 3:30 p.m., using 24 lines, August 1928. World’s first remote TV news takes place on the steps of the Capitol in Albany as Governor Alfred E. Smith accepts the Democratic nomination for president. He becomes the first man in history whose picture was flashed to the public via the new medium. But the station’s “public” at the time consisted of only four reception sets, one of which was in Dr.Alexanderson’s home, September 11, 1928. The first dramatic program on TV, “The Queen’s Messenger” by W. Somerset Maugham, broadcast to the four TV sets in existence in the Capital District by WRGB; 1930: May 22, an Schenectady’s audience at Proctor’s Theatre in Schenectady becomes the first to see closed-circuit TV projected onto a 7-foot screen. GE puts out first room air conditioner. ALCO designs and Gastronomical manufactures the tunnel shields used for digging of the Holland and Lincoln Tunnels under the , connecting and Manhattan. GE places the first electric washing machine on the market; 1932: Irving Langmuir wins Nobel Prize “for his discoveries and investigations in surface chemistry”; 1935: The first radio tube to be made of metal History announced in Schenectady.Alco builds the “Hiawatha,”the first streamlined locomotive produced in America. It had a sustained speed of 100 MPH and a top speed of 120 MPH. First food waste disposer: the Disposall (GE). GE helps invent fluorescent lamp. E.W. Kestner’s Water Drops photograph becomes part of the permanent collections of the Museum of Science and Industry in Chicago. Kestner lived at 204 Elmer and was president of the Schenectady Photographic Society. First major league night baseball game is played in Crosley Field, Cincinnati, Ohio, under GE Lighting Novalux lamps; 1936: The GE Juice-o-Mat, “A-la-carte” table cooker, Portable Mixer, Hotpoint automatic roaster, and the Dorchester coffeemaker introduced into the home; 1939: June, the arrival of the King and Queen of England, transmitted from to Schenectady, marks the first network TV broadcast. Nov. 10, WRGB starts broadcasting. 1940: Nov. 20, W2XOY (FM) Schenectady (GE) begins transmitting on a regular schedule, according to an article in FM, Jan. 1941. NBC begins relaying telecasts to the GE station in Schenectady, thus forming TV’s first “network.”Feb. 1, TV’s first quiz show,“Spelling Bee,”on WRGB. Proctor’s shows film “Edison the Man,”starring Spencer Tracy. GE’s Eugene Rochow invents direct process for making silicones. GE’s Katharine Blodgett invents nonreflecting “invisible” glass, used today on almost all camera lenses and optical devices; 1941: July 17, W47A Schenectady (first independent commercial FM station). Dec. 8, Time reports first FM net: W71NY New York, W2XMN Alpine, W53PH Philadelphia, W65H Hartford, W43B near Boston,W39B Mt.Washington,W47A Schenectady. GE invents first US jet engine, the I-A; 1942: ALCO produces the M-7 Tank Killer; 1943: Dec. 23, the first complete opera, “Hansel and Gretel,”is telecast by WRGB. GE invents the autopilot; 1945: GE demonstrates the first commercial use of radar; 1946: The beginning of network television as WNBT begins feeding its programs to Philadelphia and Schenectady on a more or less regular basis. (Some programs were fed from New York to both cities as early as 1941). Vince Schaefer “Those who discovers cloud seeding; 1947: Sept. 30, The opening game of the World Series is the first World Series game to be telecast, between the New York Yankees and the Brooklyn Dodgers at Yankee Stadium. The game was carried by WABD, WCBS-TV, and WNBT in New York, and was also telecast in Philadelphia, Schenectady, and Washington. The 1947 World Series don’t know brought in television’s first mass audience, and was seen by an estimated 3.9 million people, mostly in bars; 1950: Thousands of M-47 and M-48 (Patton) tanks and aircraft engine history containers were built by ALCO for the Korean War. Independent moviemaker and novelist John Sayles born September 28th; 1954: WRGB Broadcasts the first network color spectacular; 1955: GE: First numerical control of machine tools, referred to as the “Greatest Innovation in Metalworking of the Century.”GE makes artificial diamonds; 1957: ALCO builds are destined the APPR-1 (SM-1), first commercial nuclear reactor, at Fort Belvoir and used to train nuclear power plant operators. The SM-1 was a single-loop 10-megawatt thermal reactor. It could generate more than 1,700 kilowatts of electrical power (enough power for a small community) and was the first nuclear power reactor to provide electricity to a commercial power grid to repeat it.” in the U.S. Hundreds of personnel were trained in nuclear reactor operations at the SM-1; 1961: GE invents Lucalox lamp; 1962: GE’s Bob Hall invents the solid-state laser. Poet/ playwright Eve Merriam writes poem titled “Schenectady”; 1963: GE introduces the self-cleaning oven and gets 100 patents for it; 1965: Alco produced the first domestic locomotive –Edmund Burke (1729-1797) with an AC/DC transmission, the 3000 HP Century 630. Freddie Freihofer goes color on channel 6 WRGB (began in B&W in 1949). GE Aircraft Engines pioneers the high bypass turbojet engine, the type used on nearly all of today’s commercial aircraft; 1970: ALCO closes Schenectady doors. Union goes co-ed; 1973: Ivar Giaever wins Nobel Prize “for experimental discoveries regarding tunneling phenomena in semiconductors and superconductors, respectively”; 1975: Schenectady’s cable access Channel 16 goes on the air; 1976: Baruch S. Blumberg, former Union College student, wins Nobel Prize “for discoveries concerning new mechanisms for the origin and dissemination of infectious diseases”; 1978: Schenectady is featured in Dr. Seuss’“I Can Read With My Eyes Shut.”1984: Barry Longyear’s “It Came From Schenectady” published; 1995: GE’s Profile™ Washer (the “Largest Capacity Washer You Can Buy.”) Also, first “smart” dishwasher (auto-sensing gauges soiled dishes). Martin Perl, former GE scientist and Union College student wins Noble Prize in Physics (GE and Union) “for the discovery of the tau lepton”; 1998: Richard Scrimger and Linda Hendry’s “The Way to Schenectady” published. 2000: GE launches Profile ArcticaTM, the refrigerator with CustomCool™ technology. It was the first to provide consumers with speed-chilling and speed-thawing capabilities. GE Gem Technologies integrates high pressure/high temperature technology with knowledge of diamond structure to eliminate impurities and restore the color of rare high-purity diamonds. Researchers at GE R&D and GE Medical Systems introduce new technologies into superconducting magnets, enabling the launch of the OpenSpeed MRI – the first-to-market, high-field open magnetic resonance scanner: 2001: GE releases new brighter bulb, the Reveal; 2002: Jimmy Carter, former Union College student, wins Nobel Prize “for his decades of untiring effort to find peaceful solutions to international conflicts, to advance democracy and human rights, and to promote economic and social development”; 2005: Schenectady is designated a “Preserve America Community” by the White House, only the 10th community in New York State to receive such a designation. S PAGE 2 Skenectada volume i, issue i Got History? BY DON RITTNER

Skenectada The importance of “Schenectady is a special place where great minds came A QUARTERLY REVIEW OF history depends on Schenectady’s History whom you talk to, together at a critical time in America’s infancy.” or so it seems. When I was much younger,

Publisher I was asked to give a ago, the collective wisdom of history. brake that stops most trains; the largest couple from Munich, Don Rittner You cannot move into the future without trains in the world, including 75,000 steam Germany, a tour of downtown Troy, a city [email protected] establishing its past. You wouldn’t fly in engines built before 1950; the tungsten not unlike Schenectady, agreeably one full an airplane if the pilot didn’t “remember” filament that lights most lightbulbs in Editor of history. As we passed by a drugstore on how to fly, would you? So we all agree that the world, the development of alternating Carol Reid Fourth Street, I stopped and pointed out a history is important! current that drives those bulbs, and the [email protected] sign hanging over the door that said serving largest turbines to produce the necessary the public since 1952. I noted with pride Those of us living in the Capital District are electricity; the first industrial research Design that this establishment was indeed a historic spoiled with history. We live in the region laboratory in America; the development of Tessa Cochetti site. Both of my guests broke out in laughter where American history planted its roots. radio, television, radar, X-ray tubes, the air [email protected] and since I knew I didn’t crack a joke, Add to that the rich Native American legacy conditioner, and the microwave oven; the I asked them what was so funny? The and we live in perhaps the most historic first hermetically sealed refrigerator and the Contributors German fellow uttered in a matter-of-fact region in the country, yet few know it. electric range; the M-7 tank killer that sent Don Rittner tone: “Well, yes, we have a similar drugstore Schenectady is a special place where great Rommel running in WW II; the solid-state Mike Engle on one of our corners in Munich and it minds came together at a critical time in laser; the first jet engine; the use of cloud Allan Deitz too has a sign over the door, which reads America’s infancy. If you read Susan Staffa’s seeding to produce rain; and five Nobel serving the public since 1399.” book Schenectady Genesis, you will learn Prize winners that worked or were educated Interns here. The list goes on. Both of us were right, of course. I was that it took a robust and brave lot to Monique Goodman impressed that my drugstore lasted so long establish the westernmost outpost of There is a lot of talk lately about developing Cindy Biglobzeski considering that Troy at the time was less 17th century New Netherland (and paid the Capital District into a “Tech Valley.” than 200 years old. My visitor was proud a dear price for it in 1690 when most of Dear readers, we are the original Tech Valley. of his city’s history as well. its inhabitants were massacred). During the coming months, this publication Over the last 30 years, we have suffered Some images supplied by the Efner You are more likely to know the history will illuminate these early contributions from a collective low esteem about our Archives and Schenectady Museum of your neighborhood than the date of the made by people living and working in region. Populations dwindled, buildings as noted. Thanks to Cynthia Seacord, signing of the Declaration of Independence. Schenectady County. were boarded up or demolished, and Chris Hunter, and Dave Hanson. History can be a very selective endeavor, and yet the old saying by British statesman and industry and jobs moved away. But our Schenectady is a Native American word that Please support the advertisers who made philosopher Edmund Burke (1729-1797) history remains. At a recent planning means “Beyond the Pine Plains.” The city this issue possible. A special thanks go rings true: “Those who don’t know history session for the upcoming city comprehensive and county have lived up to that name, to Angelo Mazzone, John Samatulski, are destined to repeat it.” plan, some members of the audience talked since the multitude of contributions made Anneke Bull, Susan Mancini, Nick Barber, about Schenectady’s poor image. Let me by Schenectadians have had an impact on You use history every day of your life even Cliff Stoodley, John Gearing, and try to present a different one. the lives of people way beyond its borders. if you don’t realize it. You celebrate your Barbara Blanchard. birthday each year. It’s that special day in Three hundred and forty-four years The bottom-line motivation for this news- the past. The same goes for anniversaries. ago, a small group of men, women, and paper is to ensure that each Schenectadian ©2005 Don Rittner. Published by New children packed up their belongings, left becomes a living and walking encyclopedia Netherland Press, Inc., Schenectady, NY. When you visit the doctor, he or she checks your past history to compare it to your the protective stockade village of Albany, of Schenectady County history so that he or present health condition. The doctor knows and eked their way across a small sandy she can fire off a 10-minute welcome to any the importance of history. You carry around trail 16 miles through the Pine Bush to visitor of our region. After all, Schenectady photos of loved ones that were taken in the found Schenectady. These early Dutch is unique in its name and in its people, Schenectady past. Governments keep records, newspapers families laid the foundation for the and the more folks we educate about this are archived, and so on. Libraries keep following: the first passenger railroad impressive history the better! Although I’ve been to Kankakee S books, receptacles of words written long in America and the invention of the air And Kalamazoo and Kokomo, The place I’ve always wanted to go, The city I’ve always wanted to see Is Schenectady. Schenectady, Schenectady, Calendar of Events Though it’s hard to pronounce correctly, Schenectady is a Nobel City BY DON RITTNER I plan to go there directly. To list your events, send to Don Rittner Schenectady, Schenectady, at [email protected]. Many people know that Schenectady is a city of inventors, but few realize that five Yes, I want to connect with Schenectady, men who either worked or were educated here went on to win the Nobel Prize during The town I select is Schenectady, their careers. The Nobel Prize is one of the world’s most prestigious awards. S I elect to go to Schenectady, HISTORIC MABEE FARM EVENTS I’ll take any trek to Schenectady, http://schist.org/events.htm 1932 Irving Langmuir Even wash my neck for Schenectady, For his discoveries and investigations in surface chemistry So expect me next at Schenectady, MOHAWK TOWPATH SCENIC BYWAY EVENTS 1973 Ivar Giaever http://www.mohawktowpath.homestead.com/events.html Check and double check For experimental discoveries regarding tunneling phenomena in Schenectady! semiconductors and superconductors, respectively PRESERVATION LEAGUE OF NEW YORK STATE EVENTS 1976 Baruch S. Blumberg http://www.preservenys.org/calendar.html From JAMBOREE Rhymes for For discoveries concerning new mechanisms for the origin and dissemination of infectious diseases All Times by Eve Merriam. SCHENECTADY COUNTY PUBLIC LIBRARY EVENTS http://www.eventkeeper.com/code/events.cfm?curOrg=SCNY Copyright © 1962, 1964, 1966, 1995 Martin L. Perl 1973, 1984 by Eve Merriam. For pioneering experimental contributions to lepton physics For the discovery of the tau lepton SCHENECTADY MUSEUM EVENTS http://www.schenectadymuseum.org/calendar/calendar.html 2002 Jimmy Carter For his decades of untiring effort to find peaceful solutions to international conflicts, to advance democracy and human rights, and to promote economic and social development Skenectada PAGE 3 DoYou Have a Dutch ? BY ALLAN DEITZ

Dutch Barn Survey

BY DON RITTNER

The Dutch Barn Preservation Society and Vernacular Architecture have begun a regional survey of surviving Dutch . The area surveyed encompasses the original boundaries of New Netherland (NYS and parts of NJ, CT, DE, and PA). If you own a Dutch barn, please let us know so it can be catalogued.

The survey will publish its results in several forms, including newsletters and publications of all partner organizations and participating historic societies.

The immediate goal of the project is to produce several publications before 2009 to raise awareness of the coming quadricentennial celebration, which will then be sold at the events and participating historic sites.

The long-term goal is for all of the Characteristic “tongue” protruding in the H-Frame of a information collected to be made Dutch barn. Photo courtesy of HABS. available to the public, with portions of the data put online. It is also expected that the survey will generate additional The first Dutch barns in America were built wide) for use as a threshing floor, and two Inside many Dutch barns, a granary room research and publications. in the 1600s by the Dutch settlers of Fort 10-foot side aisles for animal stalls. Look with several bins was built in the full side Orange (Albany) and New Amsterdam inside for the key feature of all Dutch barns: aisle of the last bay next to the rear gable The main goal is for the survey to be (Manhattan). In New York State, they were the H-frames that support the steep sloping wall. Originally, wooden stanchions secured used to inspire the preservation of built mostly in the Hudson Valley, the shingle roof that comes down from the ridge the milk cows in the stalls of the two side Schoharie Valley, and the eastern Mohawk often to about 14 feet above the ground. aisles so they faced the threshing floor in the Dutch buildings and farms. For more Valley. Vincent Schaefer, a former president Each H-frame has a horizontal anchor beam center aisle to keep it clean. Look for two or information go to http://threerivershms. of the Dutch Barn Preservation Society, and a post at each end to make it look like a three “martin holes” above the front gable com//dbpsnewnetherlandsurvey.htm wrote in 1988: capital letter H. The number of H-frames wall wagon doors that allow birds and air to on the Web. Don Rittner, Schenectady differs with each barn. The typical Dutch enter the Dutch barn peak. County Historian, is the contact for There were many Dutch Barns in the gener- barn, which is of varying length, has three or Schenectady County and can be reached al region of Schenectady. Settled in 1661, its four bays, determining the amount of In about 1933, Vincent Schaefer purchased original proprietors were each assigned two storage available. the Teller/Schermerhorn Barn that stood on at [email protected]. farms on the Great Flats adjacent to and Schermerhorn Road in Schonowe as a fine west of Schenectady on the south side of the The front and back barn walls, called gable example of an original Dutch barn. It was The Dutch Barn Preservation Society will . In addition to these farms walls, contain a set of vertical wagon doors built, he believed, by Johannes Teller in award up to $500 annually to encourage there was other rich arable land for these to allow hay wagons to enter and exit the 1701. Schaefer took many photos and made and assist owners of Dutch barns in the early settlers. In general, the families whose threshing floor. They are usually centered in many sketches of it before he had to dis- repair of their barns. names still persist at the present time devel- the gable walls. Some barns have wagon mantle it in the 1940s due to deterioration. oped from the pioneer settlers. These per- doors in only one gable wall. Hay and grain Today we can visit a fine Dutch barn at the In the fall of 1996, Governor George sons such as the Vedders, the VanSlycks, the are stored in the hayloft on poles laid Schenectady County Historical Society’s Pataki signed into law the Farmer’s Tellers, the Van Guyslings, the Wemps, the between the barn’s anchor beams. Usually Mabee Farm Site, recently brought from Bradts, the Vroomans, the Mebies, the one of the two wagon doors is a Dutch Montgomery County to replace the lost Protection and Farm Preservation Act, Swarts, the Van Epps, the Glens, the door, which in earlier years was needed to original Mabee barn. designed in part to preserve historic Schermerhorns, and such were mostly born help control the wind flow through the barns, including Dutch Barns. You can For more information on Dutch barns, I in the Netherlands, or Sweden between barn. This was important to the early qualify for an income tax credit equal recommend The New World Dutch Barn, 1620 and 1640. After joining Arent Van method of threshing grain on the large cen- to 25% of the cost of rehabbing your Curler at Albany to form the new village of ter-threshing floor. The wind would separate by John Fitchen and updated recently by Dutch barn. For more information, go to Schenectady at the northwesterly edge of the the heavier grain from the shaft. Smaller Gregory Huber, which was a reference book Pine Plains they established families on the doors at each side of the front gable wall for this article. S http://nysparks.state.ny.us/shpo/ farmsteads of the Great Flats or the other provide entrances for milk cows and horses technical/hisbarns.htm. The National Park Flats adjoining the Mohawk River upstream to the animal stalls. Allan Deitz grew up in Rotterdam, attended Service has a Historic Barn Preservation of Schenectady. Mont Pleasant H.S., and majored in history at document available at http://www.cr.nps. The barns were made all of wood, usually Hope College in . He now lives in gov/hps/tps/briefs/brief20.htm. The classic Dutch barn, before it was altered from oak or pine trees found on the farm. Guilderland and enjoys historical research. or added to, is most often rectangular in The only other building material used was shape. Most all-Dutch barns are wider than stone to elevate the wooden barn from they are long, with a three-aisle design that direct contact with the ground. The original includes a large center aisle (often 25 feet siding was horizontal unpainted clapboards.

Did you know? IN 1832, A STEAM RAILROAD BETWEEN SCHENECTADY AND SARATOGA WAS OPENED, WITH A TERMINUS AT STATE, WATER, AND RAILROAD STREETS. TRAIN CARS WERE DRAWN BY HORSES, THROUGH A SERIES OF SUBWAYS UNDER STATE STREET, UNION STREET, AND FRONT STREET, AND ACROSS THE BRIDGE TO THE GLENVILLE SIDE, WHERE STEAM LOCOMOTIVES WAITED TO TAKE THE TRAIN TO SARATOGA. CAN YOU FIND THESE TUNNELS TODAY? PAGE 4 Skenectada volume i, issue i FEATURE STORY: BY DON RITTNER An Ironclad For Schenec Clute Brothers Foundry Helped Turn

On March 9, 1862, the most famous naval battle in American history took place almost 600 miles from

the Capital District. Yet, this 143-year-old event had Schenectady and Troy stamped all over it when

a small floating “cheesebox on a raft” helped turn the War of the Rebellion against the South.

This is the famous storybook battle between the northern ironclad U.S.S. MONITOR and its southern

counterpart the C.S.S. , or (formerly U.S.S.) MERRIMAC during the Civil War.

The ship was 124 feet long, and 34 feet broad at For about five hours the two ironclads battled it out the top. While in water, all that was visible was with both ships retreating, each of their captains the turret, for the most part; only 18 inches of the thinking they had won. In effect, the North did win deck was visible above the water line. The ship was since it halted the further destruction of the fleet launched on January 30, 1861, 18 days past the and sent the Virginia running. 100 days Ericsson promised it would take to deliver it to the government. In the annual report of the Secretary of the Navy for 1862, the following was written about the epic battle The Clute Brothers Foundry, at the corner of Liberty between the Monitor and Virginia (Merrimac): and Wall Streets (now a parking lot), founded in 1840, already had a relationship with Ericsson The fierce conflict between these two ironclads as one of the builders of his famous patented lasted for several hours. It was in appearance an Ericsson Caloric Steam Engine. They also prided unequal conflict, for the Merrimac was a large and themselves on producing marine engines, boilers, noble structure, and the Monitor was in comparison and scientific instruments. It was the donkey engines almost diminutive. But the Monitor was strong in her they fabricated that moved the gears of the turret, armor, in the ingenious novelty of her construction, and naval historians agree that it was the rotating in the large caliber of her two guns, and the valor and turret that changed the course of naval warfare skill with which she was handled. After several hours’ fighting the Merrimac found herself overmatched, Clute Brothers employee forever. If it had not worked, the war may have had a different outcome. and, leaving the Monitor, sought to renew the attack

group photo, c. 1860’s. Library. Research Courtesy of Efner on the Minnesota; but the Monitor again placed According to the U.S.S. Monitor Center (Mariner’s herself between the two vessels and reopened her Museum): The most innovative feature of the fire upon her adversary. At noon the Merrimac, On the afternoon of March 8, the Monitor and the one that became her distinguishing seriously damaged, abandoned the contest and, was not faring well. The clearly outnumbered sole characteristic was her revolving turret. Though other with her companions, retreated toward Norfolk. Confederate ironclad Virginia (Merrimac) steamed designers had toyed with the idea of developing Thus terminated the most remarkable naval combat its way down the Elizabeth River into turrets for warships, Ericsson’s Monitor was the first of modern times, perhaps of any age. The fiercest in Virginia and attacked the wooden-sided Northern warship to use the invention successfully. The turret and most formidable naval assault upon the power blockading fleet anchored there. This was no small rested amidships of the vessel and was furnished of the Union which has ever been made by the blockade. It comprised several ships armed with with a separate steam engine that propelled the insurgents was heroically repelled, and a new era 204 guns and aided by land batteries. Fortress turret in a complete rotation. It measured 20 feet in was opened in the history of maritime warfare. Monroe, under the command of Troy’s General diameter and 9 feet in height, and its armored walls John Wool, was nearby and in sight of the action. were made of eight layers of 1-inch armor plate. Ironically, it was the forces of nature that sunk the Two massive 11-inch Dahlgren smoothbore cannon, Monitor, 20 miles off Cape Hatteras, when it was The Monitor’s turret By six o’clock, the lonely Virginia had sunk the capable of firing solid shot weighing 180 pounds, Cumberland, burned the Congress, forced the being towed back on a stormy New Year’s Eve in after the famous battle. Library. Research Courtesy of Efner were installed inside the turret. Though the Monitor 1862. Several sailors went down with the ship. Minnesota ashore, and forced the St. Lawrence would go into battle with only two cannon, she had and the Roanoke to seek shelter under the guns a distinct advantage even over an opponent with ten The Monitor rested in the deep for 111 years before of Fort Monroe. The Union fleet was in shambles cannon. This was because the revolving turret would it was relocated in 1973, and then designated the and the Virginia planned on returning the next day “If it had allow her to fire and aim her guns rapidly in any Monitor National Marine Sanctuary. It is managed by to finish them off. direction regardless of the direction in which the the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA). The purpose of the Monitor National Marine However, an unexpected guest—the Monitor—greeted ironclad might be steaming. All other ships of her not worked, Sanctuary is to preserve the historic record of this the Virginia the next morning. It had slipped in the time were forced to aim their guns in part by significant vessel and to interpret her role in shaping previous night under fog. The Monitor, more heavily steering the vessel into a position where the guns, the war may U.S. naval history. Over the past several years NOAA armored, and with a revolving (a first) was mounted in broadside arrangement, could be has made extensive surveys of the wreck site and also speedier and more agile in the water due to the brought to bear on the enemy. recovered over 250 artifacts from the Monitor. have had inventive genius of its designer John Ericsson. The turret bulkhead was opened only where two A Navy-funded, $6.5 million project last year was While eight foundries were responsible for making gun ports for the two 11-inch Dahlgren guns were the last major recovery effort of the Monitor since a different the Monitor, the primary work for iron plate, located. The open ports could be covered from within surveys in the mid-1990s showed that corrosion castings, and fittings was contracted out to three by huge iron pendulums that were swung in or out of the vessel was accelerating. The eight-inch thick New York rolling mills. Holdane & Co. (NYC) produced of position as needed. The flooring in the turret outcome.” iron turret still contained the two 11-inch Dahlgren 125 tons of plate, and the Albany Ironworks and was four-inch thick wood, supported by an iron cannons, many smaller artifacts, and the remains Rensselaer Ironworks of Troy manufactured hundreds ring running around the inside base of the turret. of some of the crewmen who went down with the of additional tons of hull plate and castings. H. Abbott The turret was rotated by two Clute Brothers-made ship—along with Seaman Francis Butts’ black cat— & Sons of Baltimore rolled the 1-inch-thick iron steam engines operating a crank that rotated four the mascot that was stuffed into the barrel of one plates for the turret that was then shipped to Novelty gears. During battle, three officers and 16 sailors of the cannons to keep it dry as the ship bounced Ironworks in New York for assembly. Delmater composed the gun crews and would have been in around the rough sea. Underwater archaeologists Ironworks (NYC) and Clute Brothers Foundry of the turret, along with the massive Dahlgren guns. and Navy divers recovered the 150-ton turret Schenectady cast and assembled most of the Troy’s John Griswold (then Congressman) and John (the “cheesebox”), along with the remains of two components of the ship’s machinery. Niagara Steam F.Winslow, owner of the Albany Iron Works, financed crewmembers on August 5, 2002. The Spuyten Devil. Forge of Buffalo made the Turret’s port stoppers and the deal, along with John Ericsson who designed flaps for the cannon’s firing openings on the turret. Today, Museum visitors can stand just feet away from Colored print can be ordered from the Monitor. https://store.primediamags.com/shop/thehistorynet/ Clute Brothers also made the gun carriages. the Monitor’s two 11-inch Dahlgren cannons, unique screw propeller, and the construction site for the Skenectada PAGE 5 Victory Civil War Ships Named for Local Regions tady U.S.S. ADIRONDACK Screw steamer, sloop. Built in 1862. Wrecked on Aug. 23, 1862, NE point Little Bahama Bank, the Civil War in Favor of the North Abaco, Bahama Islands, by the Man of War Cay. U.S.S. ALBANY Screw steamer, sloop. Built by the government

Engineer’s drawings of the Spuyten’s Dec 3, 1864. Name changed from Contoocook ship’s interior plan of the ship’s to Albany, May 15, 1869. Commissioned “torpedo” machinery, which was March 14, 1868. designed by Chief Engineer William W.W. Wood, USN. From the English U.S.S. SARATOGA magazine “Engineering”, 26 October Sloop of War. Built by the government 1866, page 320.Courtesy of the Navy Department at Kittery, ME, launched July 26, 1842. Library, Washington, D.C. U.S. Naval Historical Center Photograph. Commissioned on Nov. 5, 1860 and June 24, 1863, at Philadelphia Navy Yard for African Squadron and South Atlantic station. $30 million U.S.S. Monitor Center, which is scheduled Robert Fulton developed Bushnell’s submarine into ironclad Huascar at a Chilean ship. When it reached to open on March 9, 2007. a more workable type, which he named Nautilus. halfway to the target, the weapon turned around U.S.S. CATSKILL With this boat he sank several ships during demon- and headed back at 15 knots to the mother ship, Single turret monitor. Built under contract with The Clute Brothers assisted in the production of parts strations, but was unable to sell his submarine to despite the frantic and much-surprised knob twiddling for other ships during the war as well. For example, the American Navy. of the operator. The ship was saved only by the quick J. Ericsson. Launched Dec. 16, 1862 at NY. they built the propeller wheel for the U.S.S. Picket thinking and heroic action of a ship’s officer who dove On June 15, 1869, name changed to Goliath; Boat #3, a screw steamer on March 3, 1865, for Throughout the century, many attempts were made in the water and swam out to intercept the weapon Aug 10, 1869, changed to Catskill; delivered which they were paid $47.50. to develop torpedoes and during the Civil War, the and deflect it. The captain took the two weapons to “Spar” type was popular. This consisted of a steam a local graveyard where they were buried. Ironically, to NY Navy Yard on February 19, 1863. Ericsson went on to build other Monitor Class launch having an explosive charge mounted at the warships for the army: U.S.S. Passaic (launched they were later exhumed by the Chilean rebels! The end of a long pole projecting ahead of the boat. Lay weapon was also exported to Russia for harbor U.S.S. COHOES Aug. 30, 1862), U.S.S. Patapsco (launched Sept. 27, Unfortunately, the aggressor had to get pretty close 1862), U.S.S. Montauk (launched Oct. 9, 1862), defense work, but only in small quantities. It wasn’t Light draft monitor. Built by contract by to the enemy boat although the Confederates used until 1896 that the Austrian naval officer Ludwig Obry U.S.S. Sangamon (launched Oct. 27, 1862), U.S.S. it successfully. M.F.Merritt. Broken up in 1875 at NY by Catskill (launched Dec. 16, 1862), U.S.S. Lehigh invented the gyroscope, making the torpedo a reliably (launched June 17, 1863), U.S.S. Dictator (launched After the war, in 1870, a “Torpedo Test Station” stable weapon. John Roach, paid $3,684. Name changed Dec. 26, 1863), and the U.S.S. Puritan (launched was set up at Rhode Island for research on spar to Charybdix from Cohoes; Aug. 10, 1869, July 2, 1864). The Montauk and Patapsco were torpedoes, but a year later the first “automobile” Clutes and The renamed the Cohoes. damaged or sunk by Confederate torpedoes. torpedo was tested. Instead of adopting the successful torpedoes of British inventor Robert Spuyten Duyvil The Clute Brothers Foundry and Machine Shop, Whitehead, the U.S. government set about building U.S.S. HENDRICK HUDSON The Clute Brothers were also instrumental in also known as the Schenectady Iron Foundry and under the supervision of J. L. Lay, an officer in the U.S. Screw steamer, 2-masted schooner. Purchased building the first torpedo ship for the Navy known Machine Shop, was founded in the 1840s by Navy, a series of unusual and unreliable weapons. Cadwallader C. Clute, originally as Clute & Bailey, as the Spuyten Duyvil. Sept. 20, 1862, from the Philadelphia prize stove makers. Clute also owned a hardware store at Clute Brothers in Schenectady was contracted to court by the Navy department. Sold at auction The torpedo boat Spuyten Duyvil, which in Dutch 142 State Street. Later he formed the Clute Brothers make some of Lay’s first torpedoes from means “In Spite of the Devil,” was built in early to Samuel C. Cook for $28,500 on Sept. 12, Steam Engine and Tool Builders at designs from M. Hubbe, a marine architect 1865, just before the fall of Richmond. Naval 49 & 51 Liberty Street and draughtsman who worked for Lay. They 1865. Name changed from Florida, its original constructor Samuel H. Pook designed the hull, with John B. Clute and were tested in the Mohawk River between name, to Hendrick Hudson. Captured April 6, ut the torpedo-laying machinery was designed Jethrow W. Clute. two bridges at the foot of Governors Lane by Captain William W. W. Wood, Chief Engineer, 1862, by the U.S.S. Pursuit. Commissioned at in the present Stockade. Clute Brothers also built U.S.N., and constructed by the Clute Brothers of Philadelphia Dec. 20, 1862; out of commission bridges that spanned the On October 11, 1872, the first Schenectady. The ship was constructed at Fairhaven, Aug. 8, 1865. Vessel had a round stern, light Erie Canal. In an 1862 successful test was made with 300 Connecticut, in only three months. It was completed Scientific American article, onlookers, including several Navy under the name Stromboli, in October 1864, but spar deck fore and aft, and house on top. George Heath, the inventor officials at the Schenectady location. was renamed a month later. and patentee of a new iron After the event, Rear Admiral A. U.S.S. MOHAWK After the ship’s arrival at Hampton Roads, Virginia, truss bridge was featured for Ludlow Case made a toast to in early December 1864, the same place as the Screw steamer purchased on June 14, 1869 his new improved design, Lay: “We congratulate him on the earlier Monitor battle two years previous, Spuyten which Clute built for him. Clute perfect success of his Torpedo. as the Caledonia, sold July 12, 1864, at Duyvil was sent to operate on the James River. On also built a cast iron bridge for It moved with ease and is under Philadelphia. Name changed to Mohawk January 23-24, 1865, it took part in the battle at Schenectady inventor Benjamin perfect control, both of which Trent’s Reach, after Confederate ironclads attempted on date of purchase. Chartered in 1858 Severson. Finally, in later years, are the great and essential points.” to attack federal forces on the lower James. they built sawmills complete with Unfortunately, with Lay’s design, most of his weapons for Paraguay Expedition. Commissioned on boilers and water wheels of various designs. floated and could not strike at any depth at an As the Civil War drew to a close in early April 1865, Sept. 19, 1859, at . enemy ship. The Lay torpedoes floated with only Spuyten Duyvil used its unique torpedo-placing a few inches of hull showing and were controlled Clute and the mechanism to clear obstructions on the river, which U.S.S. MOHICAN by an operator using electrical impulses sent down allowed President Abraham Lincoln to go up the Screw steamer, launched Feb. 15, 1859. Lay Torpedo a wire. The power unit was a gas engine driven James River to visit Richmond, the former by compressed carbon dioxide and the steering Confederate capital city. Built at Navy yard at Portsmouth NH; rebuilt The word “Torpedo” was first used by American impulses transmitted down the wire operated in 1885 at Mare Island Navy Yard, in service inventor David Bushnell during the 18th century. electromagnetic relays on the rudder. The position The ship continued clearing the river’s obstruction Torpedo is from the animal family, genus of the weapon was indicated by two flags or discs. even after the fighting ended, and at the end of its as a tender for torpedo fleet Asiatic Torpedinidae, the electric ray. The “Shock and A later form used liquefied carbon dioxide as career was sent to the New York Navy Yard, where station. Commissioned on Nov. 29, 1859, awe” of a torpedo was aptly named. the power source with the liquid warmed in pipes it was decommissioned, later used for experiments, at Portsmouth; out of commission on external to the weapon. and then sold in 1880. Bushnell first used the term for a mine attached to Apr. 26, 1865, at Boston Navy Yard. the hull of a ship and detonated. He completed this These weapons were unreliable and vulnerable to The vessel was propelled by a single four-bladed by using a boat that he designed that was manually destruction by gunfire. In a trial carried out off the screw, and the engines for working the propeller were Ironic that the two cities that produced the pedal-powered and was submerged, perhaps the British coast for the Royal Navy, the Lay weapon constructed at Mystic, Connecticut, by Mallory and Co. first submarine. During the 18th and 19th centuries, heeled over badly so that the propeller was located first Monitor, Troy and Schenectady, didn’t For working the vessel and torpedo machinery however, all types of water bound explosive devices, only half under the surface. have a Monitor named in their honor! i.e., floating mines, floating barrels of burning pitch nine persons were required, the total number of (carried to the target by the water current), and spar Two Lay torpedoes were sold to the Peruvian the staff on board. S torpedoes (approximately 60lb charge was fixed on Government for use in their war against Chile. In the end of a 25 foot pole, was exploded below the 1879, a Lay weapon was fired from the Peruvian waterline) were called torpedoes. PAGE 6 Skenectada volume i, issue i Schenectady’s Gastronomical History BY MIKE ENGLE

About three years ago the Mont Pleasant wagons were nighttime businesses, serving reopened due to the efforts of former the employees who needed a meal at night. Voorheesville native Mark Gillenwalters. One day, I happened to run into the Elmer Ellsworth Howenstein was one person former Schenectady mayor Al Jurczynksi. who filled that need in Schenectady from I mentioned to him that the Mont Pleasant 1903 to 1913. He stored his lunch wagons and the Silver were the last ones left at 145 Lafayette Street and took them to in Schenectady. The Mayor replied, “No, we popular locations at night. This same practice have the Farmer Boy, Brandywine, and the of storing lunch wagons during the day, at Blue Ribbon.” The reason for our different the site of a central kitchen, was also done in views is easy to understand. I’m approaching Amsterdam and Johnstown. it from a more historical, prefabricated, Eventually lunch wagons became stationary. “silver” diner approach, while the former Mr. Howenstein followed this trend by Ruby’s Silver Diner was a popular spot along Erie Blvd mayor probably was thinking of restaurants placing one of his wagons at 174 Jay St. for years. It now sits vacant waiting to be rediscovered. Courtesy of Schenectady Museum Archives. Courtesy of Schenectady Museum that call themselves “diners.” Regardless, The others, it is believed, were sold to one Schenectady has had more than its share of his employees, Ira Van Schoich (or of historic eating establishments. Schaack) and placed at 516 Liberty. Dyer the world.” If you want to see what an was a diner called the Sodium Diner on or O’Mahony diner looked like in the 1920s, near the same location. If you have pictures, Wil Anderson’s book Lost Diners of the North- Todd took over the lunch wagon at 174 Jay check out Dan’s Place II on Washington please contact Don Rittner, Schenectady east has an 1895 Union College yearbook after a few other gentlemen gave the business Avenue in Albany and the Gloversville Palace County Historian ([email protected]). advertisement for Clarence Bothem’s lunch a try. By 1922, he had picked up a partner, Ralph Lee, and a new lunch car. This $7,000 Diner on South Main Street. But if you really wagon. Lunch wagons were the precursor to Going farther west on Route 7, you will find lunch car was built by the O’Mahony want to see an O’Mahony at its best, drive the diner and were started in 19th-century the Duanesburg Diner and Gibby’s Diner Company of Bayonne, NJ, a company that up NY Route 30 towards Northville and stop industrial , namely Providence in Quaker Street. The aforementioned sported the motto: “In our line, we lead at the Northampton Diner. and Worcester. In New England most lunch Duanesburg Diner has been on the same Partners Glass and Kingsberry brought the spot since the 1930s. Their placemats contain next lunch car to Schenectady around July some of the colorful history of the diner. of 1926. They purchased an $8,000 Tierney This Bixler diner never had stainless steel, Diner, which they called the Oven and as Bixlers were around before stainless steel Griddle Diner. The Tierney Company was became a popular option for diners. To O’Mahony’s main competition up to 1929 modernize the Duanesburg Diner, the former when the company closed shop. Around this owners went with a mansard roof and a stone time, both were making almost a diner a day! facade. This also made their dining room addition look like it had always been there. From the period of 1926 to 1940, countless diners were moved into town, slowly but In Quaker Street, Gibby’s Diner has been a surely, replacing the smaller lunch wagon. beacon to people traveling on Route 7 since A few of the names you might remember are: 1952. Business has been so good that they the Van Curler on Water Street; the Victory have had to enlarge the place three times. and Tick Tock on Edison, the Modern, State, Inside this small diner, right above the door, Midway, Woodlawn, and Cross Town on you can find a tag proclaiming this diner to State Streets; Miss Schenectady on Albany St.; be a Mountain View Diner, built in Singac, and McDonald’s, Ladd’s, and the Silver Diner NJ. In Roadside Magazine, Gibby Wolfe was on Erie Blvd. These diners ranged in original asked about the effect of I-88 on business. He cost from $4,500 for the State Diner, a Bixler mused to a customer, “I wonder when they’ll Company style, up to $15,000 for the open the highway.” “It opened today,” was Miss Schenectady, a Brill Company style. the reply, noting it didn’t bother him at all. The charm of this diner and its owners made Bixler was a diner manufacturer in Norwalk, Gibby’s Diner a favorite stop on the 1997 Ohio, who built diners in four-foot sections, Diner-Rama hosted by the American Diner SCHENECTADY’S PUBLIC ACCESS TV-16 just like a loaf of bread, and put them Museum, and it continues to be a popular together on site. They made diners in place even for downtown Schenectadians. NEEDS YOU! Norwalk from 1932 to 1937. You can see a Bixler diner by going to another Schenectady We’ll finish this little trip down diner lane County location, the Duanesburg Diner. with a little-known story about diners in There was also a Bixler formerly situated Schenectady County. Around 1984, a diner near the corner of Routes 146 and US 20 was moved to Hoffman’s on Route 5. This in Guilderland, and another was placed a 1930s O’Mahony style was going to be This is TV-16’s 30th anniversary and 16’s future is at stake. few miles west of Scotia on Route 5. opened up as an eating establishment. Unfortunately, due to health issues of the Invest in Public Access-16 for the people by the people. Brill was a well-known railcar and trolley owner, the diner never opened and was sold car builder that began making boxy-looking to a party who moved the diner to . Donate online at www.sacctv.org diners around 1927. The Miss Troy Diner is The rumor is that the diner came from a Brill, as were the original seven diners of Rotterdam Junction, but no one has been OR CALL 346.3181 FOR MORE INFORMATION. the defunct Miss Albany chain. Jack’s Diner able to verify it. on Central Ave in Albany is the only spot S that still has a diner. Brill bowed out of the diner building business in 1932. The current Mike Engle is a math teacher and a diner historian. Miss Albany Diner on Broadway has no His website www.nydiners.com attempts to docu- EVERYTHING OLD IS NEW AGAIN relation to the original chain called the ment past and present diners in . Miss Albany Diners. His new book titled New York (Upstate) in 1905, is a 204-page collection of articles and stories that Ambition Coffee & Eatery—located in the While there are only two vintage diners left in were printed in newspapers 100 years ago in Heart of Historic downtown on the Pedestrian Walkway, the city of Schenectady, there are several more upstate New York. Some stories are whimsical, like housed in a 19th century tavern with a 21st century menu. left in the county. In Rotterdam, the current the playing of water baseball on Java Lake. Others Topps Diner is a classic environmental-styled were more historical in nature, like the centennial diner. The stainless steel of this classic diner of the First Congregational Church in Eaton. Specialty sandwiches was replaced with large windows and a stone Still others contained the talk of the day, like the Soups & salads facade. If you look close enough, you will meeting at the Edison Hotel in Schenectady to Coffee, cappuccino, espresso notice that the dining room on the right side Full bar discuss a trolley line from Schenectady to Stamford. does not totally match the diner. This is Serving Dinner Thursday nites The book is available for $19.95 by contacting because Paramount added the dining room at Open before all live Proctor’s events the author at [email protected]. a later date. Before Topps Diner existed, there 382.9277 154 JAY STREET, SCHENECTADY, NY 12305 www.ambitioncafe.com Skenectada PAGE 7

Building New Netherlands’ First Ship— The Onrust Project

BY DON RITTNER

During the months of May to October 2006, the public will be able to watch the beginning of the For a construction of the first Dutch ship built in America in 1614—the Onrust (Dutch for Restless). This Free replica will be built using original 17th-century Dutch building techniques, and this unique project is SHOPPING & being undertaken under the auspices of a new nonprofit organization called New Netherland Routes, Inc. Gerald de Weerdt, Director of the Maritime Museum in the Netherlands will be supervising the DINING GUIDE reconstruction of the Onrust and is an expert on 17th century Dutch boat building. The project hopes to Downtown to have the ship completed locally and act as a floating ambassador for the Hudson and Mohawk Schenectady Valleys, and our Dutch history. Discussions with local historical organizations are being held to become the official home of the Onrust. Mr. de Weerdt has just completed building a small 17th-century craft. Call 377-9430 The Onrust was a Dutch ship built by Adriaen Block and the crew of the Tyger, which had been destroyed by fire in 1614 at the tip of Manhattan. The ship, a yacht, was the first decked vessel to be built entirely in America. The construction, with help from the Lenape Indians, took one winter. Visit us at: www.downtownschenectady.com The ship was 441⁄2 feet length, 11 1⁄2 feet beam and 16 tons. HISTORIC DOWNTOWN SCHENECTADY’S The Onrust was launched into Upper New York Bay in April 1614. The ship sailed through the treacherous 46th Annual Stockade passage called Helle-gat (Hell Gate) in the East River and later became the first American-built vessel to sail in Long Island Sound (‘T Groot Baai). Block had earlier explored it with the Tyger. Block explored WALKABOUT the harbors of Long Island and Connecticut discovering the Housatonic and Thames Rivers, and sailed up the Connecticut (de Versche Rivier) River past the site of Hartford. The Onrust continued on to & WATERFRONT FAIRE Narragansett and Buzzards Bays, and Cape Cod. • Explore the oldest historic district in New York State In his honor, Block was immortalized with a small island, named Block Island. On the basis of this voyage, the Dutch laid claim to the territory of New Netherland, a territory that included Long Island • Tour homes and historic places (and all of New York), Connecticut, Delaware, New Jersey, and parts of Pennsylvania. • Enjoy the FREE Waterfront Faire along the Mohawk River The last historical account of the Onrust describes her 1616 expedition down the coast of New Jersey Saturday, September 24, 2005 to explore the New River (Delaware River) under the command of Captain Cornelius Hendrickson. 11 a.m. - 5 p.m. No one knows the final disposition of the ship since it was too small to travel over the ocean. For More Information Call 377-9430 It is believe to have been abandoned. www.historicstockade.com www.sayschenectady.org Block was also the first European to venture up the Connecticut BUILDING OUR FUTURE BLOCK BY BLOCK River. He managed to get as far as the Enfield rapids, about 60 miles up the river. He is credited for the map of his voyage on which many features of the mid-Atlantic region appear for the first time, and on which the term New Netherland is first applied to the region.

The Onrust will bring attention to the Capital District and its importance during the early founding of America, but also as a major ship-building community during the 19th century. This floating museum will provide students and the public with a perspective on 17th-century life and the early Conceptual view of the Onrust to be explorations of the country. S built in 2006. Drawing courtesy of Gerald DeWeerdt.

. SWORD SCRAMBLE Schenectady Inventors BY DON RITTNER

Solve the Puzzle: Hint: In Common, They All Were “ ______”

Did you know? SCHENECTADY IS OF NATIVE ORIGIN, MEANING CITY… A: OF MANY SKINS B: SITTING ON THE FLATS C: BEYOND THE PINE PLAINS D: WITH PEOPLE OF SKINNY NECKS PAGE 8 Skenectada volume i, issue i The Way We Were! Take a Lunchtime Self-Guided Tour to Schenectady’s History

Fed up with fast food for lunch? Why not take a self-guided tour and learn about Schenectady’s wonderful history? Lose calories and gain knowledge, and it’s so much better for you. Put on your walking shoes and take this 30-minute trip to the past.

Your tour will take you down a two-block area from State to Union and back on both sides

of Erie Blvd. Follow the Map.

1

PHOTO 1: Start at “The Old Corner,”the NE corner of State and Erie. State was originally cobblestone (glacial pebbles) before paved with Belgian blocks around 1890. A bridge spanned the Erie Canal allowing trolleys to cross. From this corner, walk north up Erie Blvd.

PHOTO 2: The Erie Canal (now Blvd) looking north from State 2 to Liberty Street Bridge. Starting around 1917, It took several Smart Choice. years to fill in the canal. All of the buildings to the right are Schenectady County Community College offers more gone and now is a parking lot. than 300 courses in 41 programs of study, terrific PHOTO 2A: Taken from the State Street Bridge, c. 1890, seeing the canal in use. The toe path is on the left with 2A faculty and small classes – all at a very affordable a canal boat visible past the Liberty Street Bridge. cost! Get moving in a new and exciting direction. At PHOTO 3: A closer view of the Canal looking to the Liberty Street SCCC, you’ll get an EDUCATION THAT WORKS! Bridge. On the left of the bridge, the white house is Liberty Hall, 3 233 Liberty Street, home of GE Scientist Charles Steinmetz. Today this is the location of Burger King.

Schenectady County PHOTO 4: Schenectady’s third train station in 1882. This is the second station here and is close to the present Amtrak station. Community College The Mohawk and Hudson Railroad was the first passenger 78 Washington Avenue, Schenectady, NY 12305 train in America when it took its maiden trip in 1831. 518-381-1366 • www.sunysccc.edu PHOTO 5: The fourth station (third at this location), built in 4 1908. Many old timers will remember this station and its grand hall. The present Amtrak station sits to the left of here.

PHOTO 6: View from Liberty Street Bridge to the Union Street Bridge. Building to the right is Clute Brothers Foundry (see center page story). To the left is Elbow Street, present S. College. The canal is being filled in, c. 1925. The Railroad 5 Bridge still exists.

PHOTO 7: On the Union Street Bridge and looking towards State, c. 1890. Cross Erie Blvd and begin walking back towards State on the opposite side. The two buildings at the far end to the right still stand. 6 The Liberty Street Bridge is in the foreground. The houses to the right are now a parking lot. On Liberty nearby is where Helen “Nellie” Brown began Brown School in 1893 in her home at 237 Liberty.

7 PHOTO 8: West College (Union College) on Union Street, now Van Dyke parking lot. When the college moved to upper Union, this building became a public school. Union was the first non-denominational college in America (1795), and first college chartered by the Board of Regents of NYS.

PHOTO 9: Home of Dr. Elizabeth Gillette, first woman surgeon in Schenectady County, and first woman from Upstate elected to 8 the NYS Assembly in 1919. She could write law but not vote in the general election. Women didn’t get the vote until 1920. Building to the left was a firehouse (Hose 24). Dr. Gillette’s house is being renovated for a city visitor’s center.

PHOTO 10: View near Liberty Street showing the bridge and the canal being filled. You are standing on the towpath, c.1925. Ornate building to the left is the Crown Hotel, built in 9 1906, destroyed in 1971.

PHOTO 11: Burger King lot. During the 19th century this was home and laboratory of Charles Steinmetz. This is a view of his carriage house, which GE retrofitted as the first industrial laboratory in the . 10 PHOTO 11A: The 19th-early 20th century home of GE Genius Charles Steinmetz on 233 Liberty Street, next to Helen Brown, and now part of the Burger King parking lot.

PHOTO 12: Only building on the tour that survives. Notice the horse drawn wagon on the canal toe path. Tenants included 11 the Fitzgerald Shorthand and Business School, and E.E. Yelvert Insurance co. at the time of photo, c.1890. Compare to the present condition.

This ends the tour. 11A

All photos with the exception of 10 and 11 (Schenectady Museum Archives), 9 (Don Rittner) are courtesy of the 12 Efner History Center at City Hall.